By coincidence I do have a picture. The long shaft is 76. The spring, obviously, is 81. 83 is just a washer that backstops the spring and sits between the shaft and bushing 78. 78 is not really visible. It sits in a ball socket on the fitting on the firewall. When I got my car it was gone for some reason. The linkage was sloppy, as you can imagine.

The round ball shaped bushing is missing in this picture........or am I missing something?

It's not missing, just very hard to see. It's directly behind the spring where it sits in a ball socket. It's dark back there and the socket is recessed so it isn't very visible when it's in place. But it's there. If it's missing the shaft will wiggle around.[edited for clarity]

By coincidence I do have a picture. The long shaft is 76. The spring, obviously, is 81. 83 is just a washer that backstops the spring and sits between the shaft and bushing 78. 78 is not really visible. It sits in a ball socket on the fitting on the firewall. When I got my car it was gone for some reason. The linkage was sloppy, as you can imagine.

The round ball shaped bushing is missing in this picture........or am I missing something?

It's not missing, just very hard to see. It's directly behind the spring where it sits in a ball socket. It's dark back there and the socket is recessed so it isn't very visible when it's in place. But it's there. If it's missing the shaft will wiggle around.[edited for clarity]

Ah ok I see it now......wayyyyy back there. However, it's in the wrong location. The round plastic bushing is supposed to sit in the front cup of the metal bracket welded to the firewall, not behind it. Change that as soon as you can.

By coincidence I do have a picture. The long shaft is 76. The spring, obviously, is 81. 83 is just a washer that backstops the spring and sits between the shaft and bushing 78. 78 is not really visible. It sits in a ball socket on the fitting on the firewall. When I got my car it was gone for some reason. The linkage was sloppy, as you can imagine.

The round ball shaped bushing is missing in this picture........or am I missing something?

It's not missing, just very hard to see. It's directly behind the spring where it sits in a ball socket. It's dark back there and the socket is recessed so it isn't very visible when it's in place. But it's there. If it's missing the shaft will wiggle around.[edited for clarity]

Ah ok I see it now......wayyyyy back there. However, it's in the wrong location. The round plastic bushing is supposed to sit in the cup up the metal bracket welded to the firewall, not behind it. Change that as soon as you can.

Nice catch! You're quite right. That picture was BEFORE installing the bushing. It's now it is indeed in the cup as you describe. Sorry for not checking, should have sent the "after" picture.